• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 4, 2016

Fantasy sports companies DraftKings and Fan Duel bought a lot of airtime in the regular season NFL games -- and grabbed a lot of headlines. But don’t look to either of them buying any advertising time in the Super Bowl.

Both companies spent over $300 million in 2015 -- primarily on NFL programming in the last quarter of the year. That has fallen dramatically in recent weeks due some changing state regulations tagging those businesses as “gambling,” not a game of “skill.”

However, some analysts believe daily fantasy sports could still make a comeback in future years.

Gaming research company Eilers Research’s original forecast-- by way of the Video Advertising Bureau -- projected consumer spending on daily fantasy sports climbing to $14.5 billion per year by 2020, from $2.4 billion in 2015. Newer estimates are these businesses could grow to $17.7 billion in 2020 from a $3.7 billion level last year.

Even then the company offers this caveat, that growth depends on “state regulations or other material changes to the industry.”

To be sure, it is never a given that regular-season NFL TV advertisers will spend the big media dollars for a Super Bowl commercial  -- this year priced at another record, $5 million for a 30-second commercial for the CBS telecast.

Still, considering the money both companies raised from respective private investors, as well as the combined annual revenue of both companies in 2015, one might expect the two big daily fantasy sports companies to buy some high profile TV messaging in the biggest TV show of the year -- possibly a brand spot as a reminder.

Many TV advertisers do look to make last-minute deals in the Super Bowl -- or else to do some “ambush” marketing by buying key spot TV markets, at lower overall costs, to get some attention on one of the biggest TV viewing days of the year.

The play is still in the game -- whatever definition of daily fantasy sports means for you.

Even as these companies continue to maintain picking players’ performance is a game of “skill,” not gambling, you could have “played” on either DraftKings and FanDuel for the Super Bowl (and the NFL Pro Bowl).

No Super Bowl TV ad? No problem.